Sustainable Jersey is a network and movement of municipalities, schools and school districts working collectively to bring about a sustainable New Jersey. Acting with state agencies, non-profit organizations, foundations, academia and industry, Sustainable Jersey researches best practices for what communities could and should do to contribute to a sustainable future.
Students explore weather through observation, dance, and music, creatively expressing interpretations while discovering cultural depictions of weather in art.
Inquire: Students look at local weather patterns and observe how weather impacts their community.
Investigate: Students learn about the connection between dance and weather.
Inspire: Students use dance and movement to creatively express interpretations of weather.
Students learn about Jane Goodall, research other environmental leaders, and identify ways to make a difference.
Inquire: Students identify characteristics of biographies and preview a biography about Jane Goodall.
Investigate: Students read a biography about Jane Goodall, watch a video, and discuss Dr. Jane’s views about the environment, climate change, and hope.
Inspire: Students research other environmental leaders, share their findings, and choose an activity to show ways to make a difference.
Students use a hands-on approach to determine if the trees in their schoolyard are Big Trees.
Inquire: Students develop a procedure to determine if the trees in their schoolyard would be eligible for inclusion in the NJ Forest Service “Big and Heritage Tree” database.
Investigate: Students measure and estimate the size of the trees, then convert those measurements from inches to feet.
Inspire: Students compare, using greater or less than terminology, to identify if any of the trees measured are Big Trees.
Students discuss causes of flooding, investigate types of soil and land, and write about why some places are more likely to flood.
Inquire: Students share what they know about flooding and explore the causes of flooding.
Investigate: Students investigate and discuss landforms and the different types of soil. Inspire: Students apply what they learned about the causes of flooding to create a picture and write an explanation of why this land area would flood easily.
Students read about wind turbines and role-play the parts of community members to learn about the pros and cons of different perspectives in a community.
Inquire: Students view pictures of wind turbines and share what they know and want to know.
Investigate: Students view a map of wind turbines in New Jersey, listen to a read aloud, and discuss the pros and cons of wind turbines.
Inspire: Students role-play members of a community to learn key points and perspectives surrounding wind energy.
In this lesson, students discover how the habitat of New Jersey forests have been impacted by human activity.
Inquire: Students practice nature journaling as a way to acknowledge where nature exists around their school.
Investigate: Students compare and contrast New Jersey forest fragmentation and impervious surfaces from 1986 to 2020, and explore locations in New Jersey using the “Time Machine” simulator to see how the land has changed over time.
Inspire: Students discuss how and why humans impact natural areas, brainstorm restoration ideas, and write a summary of their learning.
Students learn how climate change affects red oaks and the animals that depend on them, and make a plan to plant a tree on their campus.
Inquire: Students listen to a read aloud of The Lorax by Dr. Seuss and share how they feel after hearing the story.
Investigate: Students learn that one impact of climate change in New Jersey is higher temperatures and they discover ways red oaks and other living things may be impacted by warming.
Inspire: Students present their learning from this unit to their PTA/PTO, Board of Education, or other community organization to request support for planting red oaks or other trees on school property.
Students learn the importance of preparing for extreme heat with the help of an informational text and write a letter to share their new knowledge with a community member.
Inquire: Students connect patterns of extreme heat to their lives and their behaviors.
Investigate: Students learn about how to prepare for extreme heat while looking for word patterns in the American Red Cross book, Prepare with Pedro: Extreme Heat.
Inspire: Students write to a community member who works outside, explaining preparations for extreme heat using one-syllable words.
Students prepare for a “field trip” to the beach on a hot day through a read aloud, writing, and hands-on activities.
Inquire: Students think about what they should bring to the beach to stay safe in the sun.
Investigate: Students engage in a read aloud of If You Ever Want to Bring a Piano to the Beach, Don’t! by Elise Parsley, and choose what to bring to the beach to be safe from the sun and heat through writing and a hands-on activity.
Inspire: Students write and draw to explain necessary items or physical adaptations for a heat wave.
Students learn about carbon emissions and form an opinion on the best way to reduce carbon emissions related to transportation in their community.
Inquire: Students explore how carbon emissions have changed over time.
Investigate: Students interview a familiar person to see what mode of transportation they use to move around their local area.
Inspire: Students take what they have learned about carbon emissions and transportation and create an opinion piece on the best type of transportation for their community.
In this bilingual Spanish lesson, students will prepare to go on a “field trip” to the beach when it is hot and share their knowledge with their community.
Inquire: Students consider how to prepare for a trip to the beach.
Investigate: Students move through literacy centers to “prepare” for the beach.
Inspire: Students create posters to educate the public about how to prepare for heat.
Students create and present an informational poster on the method of green transportation that they think is best for their community and the environment.
Inquire: Students analyze an informational poster, identifying the central idea and key details.
Investigate: Students create an informational poster on a method of green transportation that showcases the data from the pie charts they created in the previous lesson.
Inspire: Students present their informational poster to an audience.
In this lesson, students learn how to generate equivalent fractions within the context of wind turbine energy.
Inquire: Students consider how creating equivalent fractions can help them determine their energy needs and goals.
Investigate: Students investigate how to make equivalent fractions by watching a video, using existing teaching materials, and guided practice with whole group instruction.
Inspire: Students independently solve fraction equivalent problems with a clean energy and community theme.
In this lesson, students explore how adding fractions can help people understand how to make mathematical adjustments to account for the growing need for clean energy in their community.
Inquire: Students are introduced to a scenario where the energy needs of the apartment building are changing due to new families moving in.
Investigate: Students learn how to add fractions with unlike denominators and participate in guided practice.
Inspire: Students work independently to solve fraction addition problems with a clean energy and community-building theme.
This lesson explores how subtracting fractions can help residents understand how to make mathematical adjustments for new draws on clean energy sources.
Inquire: Students are introduced to a scenario where the energy needs of the apartment building are changing due to established families moving out and new families moving in.
Investigate: Students investigate subtracting fractions with unlike denominators and engage in guided practice with whole-group instruction.
Inspire: Students independently solve fraction subtraction word problems, and are introduced to the United Nations' commitment to clean energy goals.
Students learn how people in Mexico and New Jersey are helping sea turtles and create an infographic to educate others.
Inquire: Students learn phrases about actions people can take and decide which ones help or harm sea turtles.
Investigate: Students watch a video and complete a “missing information” paired activity to compare and contrast how people help sea turtles in New Jersey and Mexico.
Inspire: Students create an infographic to share with others about ways to help sea turtles.
In this lesson, students find shapes in nature and discuss the seasons before applying their knowledge of both in an art project.
Inquire: Students sort and categorize the characteristics of each season.
Investigate: Students listen to a read aloud of Goodbye Summer, Hello Autumn by Kenard Pak to learn about the seasons and identify shapes found in nature.
Inspire: Students make designs to show the characteristics of the seasons using geometric shapes.
In this lesson, students make predictions about, read, graph, and monitor patterns in the sky.
Inquire: Students model the movements of the Sun and Earth with a partner.
Investigate: Students listen to read aloud of The Reasons for Seasons by Gail Gibbons and analyze data showing daylight hours across different seasons.
Inspire: Students create a sundial to monitor the Sun’s movement.
In this lesson, students explore types of renewable energy in different regions of the United States.
Inquire: Students view pictures of different locations and describe the renewable energy that would be the best fit.
Investigate: Students interpret maps that rate the potential for renewable energy in different areas of the United States, including Puerto Rico.
Inspire: Students use a website that shows the types of energy currently being used in their region of the United States and suggest possible alternatives.
In this bilingual Spanish lesson, students listen to a book about the Passaic River, learn about ways people help rivers, and finish creating their book.
Inquire: Students brainstorm the kinds of problems that could be solved individually, and the kinds of problems that need a team or groups of people to solve.
Investigate: Students listen to the last chapter of a read aloud about the Passaic River and discuss their reactions.
Inspire: Students create the last two pages in their take-home book about rivers, then share their books with each other.
Gradek-2
Subject Social Studies,English Language Arts,Health
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